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Show .Supplement to the Hilltop Times El Hill AFB, Utah nNewslinen 419th Supervisors Courses E2 The 419th Supervisors Classes, scheduled for April 26-2- 7 and July 26-2- 7. have slots available. Those interested in attended are encouraged to contact a unit training manager. The 1 0th Air Force Leadership class for master sergeants and above has openings for the May 8 class. Contact Chief Master Sgt. Marva Harper, 419th Command Chief Master Sergeant, at 6 if you would like to attend. 17-1- 775-242- civil engineers named best in Reserve by Stephanie Johns 419th FW Public Affairs Office of the 419th Members Squadron high honors after being selected as the Out- standing Air Force Reserve Command Civil Engineer Unit of the Year for 2002. "This civil engineer unit has a said Chief Master Sgt. Marva Legislative Orientation Lt Gen. James Sherrard, Commander of Air Force Reserve Command has initiated a Legislative Orientation for senior enlisted members and has opened two classes to officers. Dates for the officer classes are scheduled for April 14-1-7 and June 2. Class dates for senior enlisted are June 1 8, July 20-2- 3 and Aug. 10-1If you would like to attend this class, you must get approval with your commander, then contact Chief Master Sgt. Marva Harper. Harper, 419th FW Command Chief Master Sergeant. "It's because they've always had outstanding people who pull together to get things don.e" The 419th CES had to compete with 42 other civil engineer units in Air Force Reserve. This is the fourth time the reserve civil engineer unit at Hill Air Force Base has won this prestigious award. The unit won the award in 1977 when it was the 508th CES, then in 1982, 1988 and now 2002 as the 419th CES. They were for the award in 1991 and run-ners-- up D High Score Staff Sgt. Keith Stearns, 419th Mainte- nance Squadron, Senior Airman Melissa Stolz, 419th Medical Squadron and Senior Air- man Edward Lelake, 4 1 9th Communications Squadron passed their end of course Career Development Course exams with a score of 90 percent or more. Congratulations to all three on an impressive achievement. D Outstanding Airmen of the Year banquet The Outstanding Airmen of the Year banquet for 2002 is scheduled for Feb. 8, 2003, " at the Ogden Marriott. Social hour begins at 6 p.m7and dinner af 6:45 p.m. Cost is $20 per person. Guest speaker for this year's banquet is a , Navajo Code Talker. Serl, Uniform is Mess Dress, Dress vice or appropriate civiliaa attire. Sign up with your squadron first sergeant. Semi-Forma- equipment operators. This year has been a busy one for the 4 9th CES and there were many contributing factors which resulted in winning the award. The unit's firefighters were 1992. "I believe we were able to win this award because of the outstanding ability this unit has to work as a team," said Master Sgt. Joe Moulton, 419th CES Management Assistant. "Everyone in our unit has contributed their time, and skills toward the team effort." The 419th CES is comprised of members who are proficient in a variety of skills. Some of the pro- fessions within the unit include firefighters, explosive ordnance disposal technicians, nuclear, bio- logical and chemical readiness technicians, maintenance and heavy mobilized after Sep. effectively the newspaper is meeting their information needs. Simply visit the survey web site at veyindex.htm. and log on to the base newspaper readership survey. The survey only takes a fe w minutes to complete and feedback will be used to improve future issues of the wing newspaper. H Online Pay Resources A program designed to help Air Force mem- bers more easily manage their pay is now online. Formerly names the EmployeeMem- ber program, mypay offers for active-dutonline services improved Guard and Reserve airmen, civilian employSelf-Servi- ce y, ees, retirees and beneficiaries. Members can now view, save or print Leave and Earning Statements; change federal and state tax withholdings; update bank accounts and electronic funds transfer enrollment. Log on to mypay by using the curren t EMSS personal idientification number. To request a new PIN or establish an account, simply go toht Reserve Council needs members M AFA Active, Guard and Reserve members, unit reservists, and indiviual mobilization augmentees in any Air Force specialty and pay grade have until January to apply for membership on the Air Force Association Reserve Council. Council members serve two years and meet foul times a year. Their responsihilites include soliciting concerns, such as pay. benefit and training issues from their constituency for submission to the council. Interested people should contact Chief Master Sgt. Marva Harper at 775-24for more information on how to apply. 26 1 1 'x. I .1 N ' " -- . ' ' if r P A in support teered to help support the 2002 T . Winter Olympics in February, and individuals stepping up volunteering to backfill positions left vacant due to AEF commitments of Hill AFB and other bases and EOD technicians conducted a bomb search during Vice President Dick Cheney's visit to Wyoming, just to name a few. v- - ( : vrt if Flfi ' ; t v7T 1 JI , "I am extremely proud of the members in our squadron," said Lt. Col. Randy Hill, 419th CES commander. "They really deserved this recognition. We accomplished a lot in a variety of ways with every segment of the unit. "Our unit is loaded with talented, dedicated and hard working individuals," added Colonel Hill. Even with a full workload and a limited staff, they enjoyed a successful training year and achieved their goal of zero failures on career n development courses. "I think I can speak for the entire 419th and say we are proud of the accomplishments, dedication and professionalism of our civil engineers," said Col. Wayne Conroy, 419th FW commander. "This award is a great reflection on the civil engineers and the wing as a whole." The 419th CES unit will go on Jo compete against other units for an Air Force-levaward in i.i i Him Miiiiiiiiiiiiiwi ifiiiiiiiiniii mm in i ii mm n -ft Iff ff iff 'I Photo by Maj. James R. Wilson Staff Sgt. Jay Baumgardner, 419th Civil Engineer Squadron, checks refrigerant levels In an air conditioning unit on the wing headquarters building. The exemplary contributions of the 418th CES earned the organization the honor of being the top civil engineer unit within Air Force Resarye Command. . - el Maintainers lauded with ACC award 419th FW Public Affairs Office Newspaper Survey Individuals who read the HeadsUp on a regular basis are encouraged to provide feedback to the 419th Public Affairs Office on how . v of Operation Enduring Freedom, many individuals volun- by Maj. James R. Wilson 13 xv 1 long history of winning awards," 2 Volume 17 Number 11, December 19, 2002 II 84056-541- 0 A team from the 419th Maintenance Group garnered Air Combat Command's Flightline Safety Award of Distinction for December as a result of their response to an aircraft ground emergency earlier this summer. The incident occurred Aug. 14, 2002 while the group was accomplishing preflight duties on one of the "Hot Pads" an area north of the 4 1 9th flightline for where maintainers prepare the wing's While with live missions ordnance. training putting the final touches on the five aircraft that were configured with the live munitions, a fire ignited on one of the jets resulting in near disaster. "These gentlemen braved a situation that not only could have resulted in a tremendous loss of combat capability but their own lives as well," said Lt Col. Gary Batinich, 466th Fighter Squadron commander. "If those aircraft are destroyed, we've just lost almost 35 percent of our combat capability with no ability to replace them." Prior to the incident, Staff Sgt Todd Girot and were Senior Jason Airman Richardson functional checks missile the rails, on accomplishing F-1-6s while the dedicated crew chief, Tech. Sgt. Dennis Yates, was performing his own preflight checks. Sergeant Yates noticed smoke coming from the right side of his aircraft followed by sparks and fire near an external power receptacle. He immediately turned off the external power cart then alerted the other maintainers on the ramp of the fire. Master Sgt. George Monteya and Tech. Sgt Cris Garrelts fought the fire while Sergeant Yates radioed the base fire department The fire continuedto bum reaching temperatures near 2,700 degrees Farenheit Master Sgt Wayne Under, and Tech. Sgts. Steven Ames and Laurence Hunt assisted in moving equipment away from the aircraft Master Sgt Jerry Santoro, Tech. Sgt Brian Gilmore and Staff Sgt. Bryan Kelly arrived on the scene and saw that even though the external power had been turned off, the fire continued. Sergeant Kelly pulled the external power plug from the receptacle, while Sergeant Gilmore turned the main power switch off in the cockpit before disconnecting the aircraft battery. Finally, the fire was extinguished but not before melting most of the hardware in the vicinity of the power unit The maintainer's only had a matter of seconds to decide how to respond before the episode turned catastrophic. Instead of clearing the area, they opted to fight the fire essentially putting themselves in harms way in order to diffuse the situation. "They could have turned around and left and that would have been in accordance with procedures," said Colonel Batinich. The crew chief in charge of the Hot Pad that day views the team's response with pride but says any of the other maintainers in the unit would have likely responded the same way. "You only have a matter of seconds to decide how to respond to a situation like this," said Tech. Sgt Yates. "While we're trained to handle incidents similar to this, I've never seen this happen before. In this case, we thought we had a good chance of containing the fire. I think any of the other maintainers in our unit would have done the same thing." "Fuel lines, oxygen, live bombs clearly, there were a lot of factors that could have lead to an explosion had we been unsuccessful. But everyone involved from the maintainers to the fire department responded immediately. It was a team effort" e The group, which is comprised of and traditional reservists, received civilian Special Act or Service Awards or Air Force Commendation Medals based on their duty status at the time of the incident. full-tim- 466th pilots establish aviation milestone by Ma). James R. Wilson 419th FW Public Affairs Office 419th Fighter Wing a world record 7 when four pilots departed Hill Air Force Base on a combat training mission. Collectively, the pilots from the 466th Fighter Squadron posted the most flying hours experience p (14,031) ever logged for a a of training during The four-shi- F-1- 6s mission. The Hill pilots broke a record previously established by the 162nd FW, Tucson (Ariz.) Air National Guard when four pilots there with a combined 13,041 flew together. The record for most flying hours experience by active-dut- y pilots belongs to the 56th FW, Luke AFB, Ariz. Four pilots from the 62nd Fighter Squadron with a total of 12,699 hours flew a June in mission training that milestone. establishing The new record holders are: Lt. Col. Mike Brill with 5,008 hours; Col. Ben Bartlett with 3,122 hours; Lt. Col. Gary Batinich with 2877 hours and Maj. Bill Lyons with 3,024 hours.. "This accomplishment is a reflection of the unit more than anything and our level of experience," said Major Lyons, chief of scheduling and training for the 466th FS. "I've been doing in an nothing but flying the 6 operational unit since 1988. It sounds simple, but if you want to build up time, you have to be in the cockpit." Pilots in the 466th FS have an average of 2,090 hours in the 6 more than twice the time of an average active-dut- y squadron. The fact that pilots in. the 466th have deployed in support of a major contingency operation, such as Operations and Northern Southern Watch, every year since 1997 has helped keep retention F-1- F-1- high. "If we didn't feel like we were involved in meaningful work for the country, you might see more guys leave the unit than do," said Major Lyons. "Among other things, we're being tasked for Air Expeditionary Force deployments and participating in tests" to improve the capability of the "As long as that trend continues, I think most pilots will continue to serve in the 466th and do what we're trained to do," said Major F-1- 6. Lyons. The flight was Bartlett's last in Although the Air Force does not officially track such data, his 22 years of flying place him at or near the top of the list for pilots with the longest continuous time He departed Hill flying the AFB and the 419th for a job in Colorado earlier this month. the F-1- 6. F-1- 6. Unless otherwise indicated, all photos are U.S. Air Force photos. Advertisements contained herein do not constitute an endorsement by the Department of Defense, the Department of AFB, Utah. Everything advertised is available without regard to race, color, religion, sex or other nonmerit factors of the purchase, user or patron. non-flyi- the Air Force or i Hiil i |